Police have suspended the use of properties worth more than Rs. 70 million allegedly belonging to drug trafficker Naufer Jesudasan, following an investigation by the Illegal Assets Investigation Division.
The properties lie in the Meegastenna and Ovilikanda areas of the Matale district, NewsFirst reported.
What was frozen
Police listed four holdings. The largest is a 10-perch plot carrying a three-storey house, valued at Rs. 41.4 million. A four-acre tea plantation was put at Rs. 15 million, a separate 10-perch plot at Rs. 1.8 million, and a 12.5-perch plot at Rs. 1.6 million.
Those four items total Rs. 59.8 million against the “over Rs. 70 million” figure police gave, indicating that further assets are covered by the order but were not itemised. Police said investigations into several other properties belonging to the suspect are continuing.
Jesudasan was arrested by the Police Narcotics Bureau and is being held in remand custody. NewsFirst did not give the date of the arrest, the quantity or type of narcotics involved, or the court that issued the order.
Where this sits
Asset seizure has become a routine second stage in Sri Lankan narcotics cases rather than an exceptional step, with the Illegal Assets Investigation Division working alongside the Police Narcotics Bureau under money-laundering provisions. It follows a sustained enforcement drive that has included large-scale narcotics seizures and mass arrest operations across the country.
The Matale locations are notable in themselves. Meegastenna and Ovilikanda are residential and smallholding areas well outside the coastal belt where most trafficking prosecutions have been centred, and the four-acre tea plantation among the frozen assets points to agricultural land being used to hold proceeds.
The spelling of the suspect’s name is not consistent in the reporting: NewsFirst’s headline gives “Naufer Jesudasan” while its own text renders it “Naufar Jesudasan.” No other verified newsroom had published the story at the time of writing, and no earlier coverage of this suspect appears in our archive, so the arrest itself may not have been separately reported in English.
